Hold my drink
by cheshireSorrows
Summary: Laxus is constantly holding Cana's drinks. It's really not a big deal. Headcanons galore.


**STANDARD DISCLAIMER APPLIES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.**

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Hold my drink

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It started when they were eight.

She was still relatively new to Fairy Tail – for the few weeks since her arrival and subsequent adoption by his grandfather, Cana Alberona was content to sit by herself and take it all in.

Despite the noise filling the room, and a friendly brawl breaking out near her between a much younger Macao and Wakaba, the small brunette didn't look phased.

Unusually quiet and somber, she held some interest to the future-Dragon slayer.

Her brows were constantly furrowed, lips turned down in a thoughtful frown as she constantly looked at her palms. When they first met on her arrival to Fairy Tail, and when they had shaken hands like Gramps had told him was the polite way to introduce yourself to someone, her palms were soft and unscarred; a person who hadn't fought and labored like others he had met. And yet, she was the saddest person he'd ever seen.

"Laxus."

He jumped.

Sitting on the bar, his grandpa gave a toothy grin. "You seem distracted, something wrong?"

"No Gramps, just…" Another glance her way, and he could see his grandpa's smile dim from the corner of his eye.

As both men looked on, she met their stares, flushed and turned quickly to stare at the door, yet another habit of hers.

"She doesn't look very happy to be here," he said quickly, his own lips turning in a petulant frown. "She should just leave then, if she's just going to sit there and not talk to anyone. She's been here for weeks too."

"Maybe she's waiting for someone," Gramps offered.

"For who? Everyone's here." Except Gildarts. But Gildarts was never at the guild for long periods of time anyway. Another ten year mission, he recalled his father saying.

"Maybe she's just lonely. You'd be too if you didn't know anyone around here."

Well he hadn't really considered that. He grew up in Fairy Tail, nearly four generations of his family passed through the very hall they were currently in; he didn't know what it was like to be a "stray".

Seeing the wheels of his grandson's mind turning, Makarov suggested, "Why don't you talk to her?"

"What? Me? No way! What for?"

He shrugged. "You said so yourself, she doesn't look very happy. Why don't you go cheer her up?"

"W-what?"

Fishing out a juice box from behind the counter (a surprise since the guild had an unabashedly biased preference towards alcoholic beverages), the old man threw it at him and he clumsily caught it. "Everyone in Fairy Tail should be happy; some of us just need a drink to get there."

It was with a non-physical push and shove did Laxus approach the brunette and drop the carton in the hands she was staring at.

She blinked twice and looked up in confusion.

Rubbing the back of his neck, Laxus looked at something else. "You looked thirsty."

"Oh…"

For a moment there was an uncomfortable silence before, to his relief, she began to fiddle with the packaging. It took another few seconds before she asked in a mixture of frustration and annoyance, "How do I open this?"

He snickered, and plucked the box from her hands. "Here, let me do it."

When he was done, he handed it back to her and she took a hearty sip from the straw he had shoved into it.

"Good?"

An enthusiastic nod answered him and that seemed enough of a reason for him to take the empty seat across from her.

What they talked about that day had long since faded from his memory, but the day Gildarts Clive walked through the door was the day Laxus knew he wouldn't forget.

Midway between finishing a matching pair of juice boxes and talking about card tricks she had taken to doing, the sirens rang out and the flurry began as the city braced itself for the Crash wizard's arrival.

"What's going on?" Cana asked.

"He's back," various people answered in disjointed unison – awe tingeing their voices as they watched the doors of their guild like she did every day since her arrival.

Her eyes widened and from where he sat, he could see goose bumps prickling her skin.

Laxus wondered if she even knew who "He" was. The last time Gildarts returned from one of his long missions was almost two or so years ago, and Cana had only arrived when the wizard was due to leave. He doubted she had any idea of the ceremony that was taking place, and so, he filled her in.

They were war stories he knew, glorified tales of the wizard's triumphs – his strength and raw power. He was one of only a handful of S-class mages in Fairy Tail, almost as strong as his own grandfather.

He hadn't noticed that the more things he said to try and explain how important Gildarts was, the more her eyes widened in fear and her hands trembled.

When Gildarts finally walked through the door, Cana took one look at him and turned to Laxus and said, "I need to go."

"What?"

Shoving the juice box in his hands, she ran out the back and called over her shoulder. "Hold that, I'll be back."

When she did come back, several days after Gildart's arrival and then departure, Laxus didn't ask why she had left in the first place.

.

She taught herself card magic of all things. It was one of the many things about her that surprised him.

Dragon-slayer magic like his and the Salamander's didn't have to be inherited, but a dragon had to either teach it or you had to get lacrima implanted, equip magic like Titania's was all about how the magic was awakened in the person while celestial magic, make magic and script magic required an affinity that was stronger hereditarily speaking, but didn't always require it. Card magic along with takeover magic was one of the few magical disciplines that were inherited, so long as one of the mage's parents wielded it; the child would often get it too.

Although in most cases, the parents would teach the child, and as far as Laxus knew, Cana didn't have parents.

"What happened to them?" he found himself asking, without much thought as they sat side by side at the bar this time, their table overrun by the guild that was over a hundred strong.

"Hmm?" She looked up at the wall in front of them, portraits of the S-class mages adorning it. "Who you yammering on about?"

"Your parents."

She paused before taking another drink. "What about them?"

"Where are they?"

"I said I'd take you out for a celebratory drink, not a walk down memory lane." He wasn't surprised by the response, more the fact that she responded at all. Laxus had always been curious about a number of things concerning the fifteen year old beside him, but usually she'd just change the subject or opt to completely ignore the question by teasing him about anything and everything (his clothing choices, his fan club, his inability to win at cards, etc.).

"Fine celebratory exception."

She made a sound of derision as she looked away. "You're really milking this S-class win huh?"

It was with little shock that the oldest of the younger generation had been chosen for the prestigious trial, a trial that no one succeeded in since Gildarts.

The exam had been narrowed from eight to two and Cana and Laxus were fighting it out for the chance to go up against the Crash wizard himself. The Card Holder took it particularly hard to coming in second, but then again she'd always been a sore loser.

However, her particular feelings towards the loss seemed familiar to him.

And it was not the same kind of familiar as when he beat her in a childish game or won a bet over her (the fact that she beat Evergreen faster than he beat Fried was inconsequential even if he owed her two hundred jewel). It was the kind of familiar feeling he had whenever his father made him feel like a failure. And the fact that Cana was feeling it; baffled him.

"If you must know," she began with full bravado that immediately fractured beyond repair as she admitted, "my mother died."

"Card holder magic?"

She traced the rim of her mug and worried her bottom lip. "Yeah."

He was glad Mirajane wasn't behind the counter today as he glanced at her. In the over half decade they had known each other, he never remembered seeing her so sad. And Cana, for all her magic, wit and alcohol tolerance, had few things in less abundance than pride.

"She didn't get to teach it to me, she died before I was old enough to learn," she informed quietly. "She had a lot of journals though of the things she learnt; that trunk with some clothes, family pictures and a bit of jewel were basically all she left me."

"And you wanted to win 'cause of her," he finished.

Vaguely she nodded, before she looked up at the portraits of S-class mages again, wistful and inherently disappointed that she wouldn't be up there for at least another year.

"Isn't fair," she eventually said, throwing back her head and arms, overplaying a childish tantrum as she claimed, "I would've looked way better on there then you would've!"

Laxus snorted. "Hide all you want, you know I can see right through you."

The puff of air she exhaled from her nose sounded like a laugh. "I know."

Before Mirajane could come around with another barrel, Cana hopped off the stool.

"Where you going?"

"To the bathroom, you really think I want to cry in front of you?" She gave a wan smile. "Hold my drink, I'll be back."

.

Several years had passed since then, and she still hadn't gotten on the wall.

Ezra, Mirajane and Mystogun joined the ranks so it shouldn't have been any great stretch of the imagination that Laxus was going to be reminding Cana of it constantly.

"You didn't even get into the running this time; how the hell do you get a broken arm?"

"I was a little held up with a personal endeavor."

He deadpanned. "Fifty cent words."

She snickered. "I knew you'd appreciate it. Besides, the wall is a wall – I've got other things in life to look forward to, and an arm is an arm – it'll heal, and if it won't, it'll make a good war story."

Behind them, Macao called out, "Cana, I bet you can't drink more than me!"

"Bring it old man!" Challenges were always accepted with vigor, and that's how her chosen barrel was cast aside. "Hold my drink, I'll be back!"

"You're already going to drink over there," he reminded, bored.

"Yeah, but this guy'll be under the table before you know it, and I'm not gonna get my fix with that."

Rolling his eyes, he nodded.

"Twenty minutes," she promised, "then we can go back to talking about fifty cent words."

Snorting at her (completely founded) confidence of drinking just about anyone under the table, he turned back to his drink only to be face to face with Mirajane's wide smile.

"W-what the hell?"

"You two…huh?"

He drank his beer and asked again, full composure and cool undertone – check. "What are you talking about?"

"Just…you know," she shrugged casually, "you and Cana…"

"What about us?"

"Just…never expected it, that's all," she was still being too casual. This may not be the same foul mouthed, fire cracker temper as the Demon-takeover Strauss was when she was younger, but Mirajane was all sorts of cunning. "How did the S-class trials go?"

"Well enough," he answered flatly. "But you'd know if you actually went like you were supposed to. Mystogun I expected, but you and Gildarts playing hooky, unbelievable."

"No one made S-class anyway," she soothed with a wave of her hand. "Besides, Cana needed my help."

Like hell, Cana never asked for anyone's help. He snorted. "With what?"

"She wanted to go on an S-class."

"What?"

"She said it was important, and since she isn't S-class, I had to go with her. Master's orders."

"The old man knew about this?"

"Of course," she answered her voice still irritatingly calm. "Cana said it was important, and it really was."

"What could be so fucking important that she'd go on such a dangerous mission like that?" Laxus demanded. "Is that how she broke her arm? Of course it fucking is."

"One of the dark guilds hoisted up a town not too far from here."

"How does that -"

"Their guild master killed her mother."

It was then that Cana chose to return, a fistful of jewels thrown casually onto the table as she cheerfully informed him, "Guess who drinks are on?"

The silence that met her made her blink and she looked between him and the bartender before she sighed and sunk onto the stool. "Can't keep your mouth shut, can you?"

"He was going to blow a gasket, and I just finished arranging the liquor."

"I wouldn't have blown a gasket if you didn't tell me about it in the first place," he all but growled.

The white haired woman shrugged again before sliding out behind the counter.

They sat together with no one saying a thing until the silent treatment grew tiresome, and she caved. "Are you going to say anything?"

"Why didn't you tell me to go with you?"

"What?"

He sighed instead. "Did you get him?"

"No," she answered with a frustrated huff, "he got away. The guild's been disbanded though so the town's fine."

The stool behind her made a scrapping sound as he stood.

"Where are you going?"

"To punch someone through a mountain, hold my drink."

Before he could walk away, she tugged at the sleeve of his jacket. "I got what I wanted from him, in case you were interested."

He glanced back and between her fingers was a card.

Smiling at his full attention and the clear curiosity in his normally guarded face, she turned it over and the word **Symphony **was painted. With a whisper she released its magic and a song began to play, like a piano, flute and violin thrumming against his skin, the strongest vibration across his palms.

Somehow he was sitting beside her again, their shoulders touching as they huddled unnecessarily to listen to the lullaby.

"She used to play it on my fingers," she demonstrated the movement with his own hand. "It's nothing but a lullaby right now, but it can activate three magic circles – one to protect, one to cloak and one to redirect. My mother was a magic maker – she used cards to seal it in so that became her specialty. She wasn't a fighting mage though so when the dark guild took her, they weren't ever going to bring her back."

"You didn't want to kill him?"

"Nothing would've brought her home, but this card is the closest thing to her I'm ever going to get."

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She looked exactly like her mother.

Gildarts had been aware that he was obtuse about her from first sight, but what was he to think when the woman he loved who was there one minute and gone the next, suddenly appeared, years younger with that hopeful look in her eyes?

Yes he ran.

For all his strength and power, he ran and pretended not to notice that every year that he returned the likeliness was uncanny.

Did he knew that Cana Alberona was his daughter? No.

Cornelia had said no to his offer of marriage. She wouldn't keep him away from his dangerous missions, but she couldn't pretend that she was okay with it. So when he left, they both made the painful assumption that they'd find other people to fill the void and he agonized about what it would've been like if they never let the void exist in the first place.

She had a complex, Cana's mother; she wouldn't be anyone's burden, anyone's resentment. She would be independent and so would he.

He still had big dreams then of being a famous mage with a reputation that exceeded his reach and she didn't want to deter him with any unnecessary responsibility. They parted, amicably, and they agreed that one day when they were ready to be together if it's what was decided for them then they'd be together.

He didn't know that when he left her, he wasn't completely gone.

Fifty percent of him was in that little girl who wasn't so little any more. The little girl he watched in gaps of two and five years who was a stranger and a familiar at once, and so he behaved in the way any father would when his daughter finally told him.

"You liiiike her." His ears twitched at the sound, and an unspeakable dread was looming.

Against his will, the large blonde man's face warmed and he spluttered uncharacteristically while his grandfather snickered. "I didn't expect it from you, but it's strangely fitting."

"What the hell are you smoking?" Laxus finally managed.

I know what that is, Gildarts thought in near panic. Dear Mavis. I need a drink.

"You know, I knew you had to have a good relationship with someone in the guild, though I never knew how good," Macao said wiggling his brows suggestively.

Another drink, he needed another drink before he blew the place up.

"I'm glad for your sake that Gildarts was so willing to accept you, you called him pops didn't you?"

That's it. I'm finding a liquor store and I'm drinking it.

Wakaba rearranged his cigarette as he leaned closer to the lightening dragon slayer. "So how long have you guys been -"

"Oi," Cana called out as she waltzed toward them before sliding onto the barstool next to Laxus' and signaling for a drink her way. "What's the ruckus about?"

"Glad you're here, your boy toy is being painfully unaccommodating -"

"Boy toy," she repeated, her brows raised in disbelief.

Oh Saints Above.

"Cana!" He called, louder than he intended as the guild vibrated at the sheer intention of his magic.

Her drink sloshed over the rim of the glass as she held onto it for dear life, she berated, "Old man, for Mavis' sake, don't take the building down with you!"

"Cana," he declared, "we have to bond!"

"What?"

"I'm leaving on another ten year mission, we're going to bond," he decreed, already pulling her to her feet. "I'll buy you clothes, we'll eat at fancy restaurants and I can tell you all the dad jokes I know."

Though she groaned, she patted his hand in acknowledgement of his stipulations before turning once more to the hulking blonde still sitting on the stool. Almost careless, almost affectionate she told him, "Hold my drink Laxus, I'll be back."

**A/n: **My first Fairy Tail fanfic. Yes I took liberties. No, I don't care.

That was my variation of Laxus and Cana being drinking buddies (one of my favorite headcanons).

Thanks for reading, thoughts always appreciated.


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